This invention is directed to a rack for transporting plate glass, said rack being removably mounted on the back of a pickup truck. A pickup truck, being a small truck, is normally used to deliver sheet glass on short trips. Large trucks, freight cars and other enclosed carriers are normally used to haul sheet glass on long trips. Convenience in warehouse handling and truck loading normally requires unwrapping so individual sheets are handled on local deliveries. The rack of this disclosure does not encase the glass, but conveniently mounts the panel for easy removal. Protection of the glass which can be obtained from a shipping container or inside a covered vehicle is less important than ease of loading and unloading. For these reasons, this type of rack is typically used to transport plate glass for short distances, for example, from a point of supply to a construction site in the same local area. This type of rack is not used for long hauls, for example, from New York to Miami.
Other racks used in the glass industry are mounted on small trucks, pickup trucks or are completely enclosed inside of a delivery vehicle. Conventional racks are permanently affixed to the aforementioned vehicles and cannot be removed without substantial damage to either the vehicle or the rack, itself. Another problem with conventional racks is their lack of stability. When loading or unloading heavy glass onto a conventional rack, inevitably, one side will be more heavily loaded than the other side of the rack. In this situation, tremendous forces are exerted on one side of a conventional rack with no offsetting forces being applied on the unloaded side. In this type of situation, the rack must have substantial cross-bracing of a horizontal and vertical nature to prevent the entire apparatus from toppling over under the weight of heavy plate glass. This leads to a relatively clumsy, overbuilt rack on the truck.
When both sides of the truck are evenly loaded, the forces tend to balance one another and thus stabilize the rack. However, this good fortune cannot always be obtained. When only one side is loaded, the forces become imbalanced and are overcome only with excessive structure and cost. This apparatus has as one feature a glass rack which is permanently affixed by horizontal and vertical supports to the vehicle and, yet, supports the unbalanced load. The apparatus features a rack installation which transfers unbalanced loads.